Bethany Kemp of Jitjatjo On How To Identify and Engage The Best Talent For Your Organization
An Interview With Finn Bartram, Editor Of People Managing People
Take the time to carefully craft your job description. Be thoughtful, intentional, and clear about the qualities and/or experience that would make a candidate successful in the role. Is a certain level of education really important or can related experience be a better indicator of success? Does the role require a certain amount of experience to hit the ground running or can you commit to spending the time mentoring and coaching someone with potential? Can you take a chance on someone wanting to make a career change or who’s recently joined the job market if they have experience that proves they are motivated, can work hard, and are willing to learn? Is agility a key to success? Attention to detail? Ability to collaborate with others?
Companies are always on the lookout for exceptional talent in today’s work environment. In addition, the perks needed to keep talent have changed as people are not simply running after a paycheck. They want something more. What does a company need to do to identify and engage the best talent for their organization? In this interview series, we are talking to HR experts who can share ideas and insights from their experience. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Bethany Kemp, VP of Growth Operations at Jitjato
Bethany Kemp — Operations and technology executive who partners with business leaders to make sense of complex situations and drives teams to deliver results through actionable, innovative technology and process solutions. A caring, collaborative, agile, hands on leader who contributes diverse capabilities in problem solving, strategy creation, continuous improvement initiatives, and risk mitigation.
SVP- Growth Operations, Bethany Kemp of Jitjatjo On How To Identify and Engage The Best Talent For Your Organization
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before diving in, our readers would love to get to know you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?
Thank you for having me! I am currently in the role of SVP- Growth Operations of Jitjatjo based here in NYC and have been with the company since 2021. After earning my BA in Psychology and Japanese from the University of Texas I made my way out to San Francisco where I joined a little 2 year old furniture startup in their call center. I spent nearly two decades working in different roles at Design Within Reach, a $400M+ multi-branded modern furnishing omni-channel retailer, including strategy and oversight of distribution and logistics, IT and systems development, B2B and B2C sales operations and support, customer service, project management, and operational digital strategy initiatives.
Throughout my journey, many people took a chance on me, offering me opportunities and experiences I might not have had otherwise, which is how I discovered a passion for technology and all the inner workings behind the scenes that keep businesses growing and moving — also known as Operations.
In 2020 a leadership reorganization gave me a very different kind of opportunity — equally exciting — to take a year off right before my son was born. During that time I did some real soul searching about what was important to me in my next role and three things stood out: I missed the excitement of a startup and how much impact you can make as a leader in shaping the culture and growth of an organization in its early stages. I wanted to join an organization with a mission I felt personally connected to — one that made a tangible difference in people’s lives. And I wanted a leadership role that would challenge me every day AND give me the flexibility to be the mom I want to be for my son. When I put those three things down on paper, I thought I’d be lucky to find 2 out of the 3. Then by chance through a former coworker I was introduced to Tim and Dom here at Jitjatjo and bam: all three.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote” and how that was relevant to you in your life?
Let go or be dragged. — Zen proverb
In any leadership role facing daily challenges is just part of the job. I love solving problems, and early on many leaders or those with ambition realize that pushing through problems and exploring bold possibilities can take you and your company to the next level. However, not every idea works out. Your failures and missteps can be just as valuable as your successes if you own them, analyze them openly and without defensiveness, learn from them, then let them go so you have the space and freedom to move onward and upward.
Are you working on any exciting new projects at your company? How is this helping people?
This year we launched a benefits program for our gig workers and we are continuing to look for ways to add value for our employees through learning and development, recognition programs, and more.
We are also working on some big expansion projects internally and on the B2B side of the business. We are always fine-tuning our technology, applications, AI abilities, and more to help our clients and employees be as efficient as possible when using Jitjatjo services while not losing the personal touch and connection we believe is important to help them succeed. We have been onboarding new team members and creating new leadership roles to handle our growing portfolio of clients, it’s really an exciting time for the company.
Wonderful. Now let’s jump into the main focus of our series. Hiring can be very time-consuming and challenging. Can you share with our readers a bit about your experience with identifying and hiring talent? What’s been your most successful recruitment-related initiative so far?
Much of our recruitment has been through a robust, broad range of marketing channels, including job posting networks, social media, referrals, and field events. Sometimes a rockstar is introduced through a friend, and other times someone will reach out directly to see if we have hiring opportunities within Jitjatjo corporate or on the gig-work side of the platform. We focus on effectively and succinctly communicating our value proposition and what’s exciting to see is that our word of mouth referrals are growing so the word is getting out!
Once talent is engaged, what’s your advice for creating a great candidate experience and ensuring the right people go through the process?
Be curious, listen carefully, respect the candidate’s time, and be transparent throughout the process. Be yourself and approach the experience as one of building a quality, productive relationship with the person on the other side of the table (or screen). Do your homework — have all critical information prepared for any/all candidates, read their resume, have your questions ready. You often hear about companies seeking the right “fit”, but I also try to look for culture “add” — having a team that brings a variety of strengths and experiences to the table is important. . Ultimately, the candidate experience is best when communication is clear and everyone feels heard, comfortable and kept in the loop.
Based on your experience, how can HR and culture professionals work with the broader organization to identify talent needs?
Some of the same themes apply — being curious, open, and listening carefully without judgment creates a culture of feedback within a company. So when a team member of any level feels they need additional support or tools to grow within the organization, they should feel safe and empowered to do so. From the moment someone is hired, they should be reminded that giving feedback and asking questions is more than okay; it’s a gift.Talent needs are evolving, so it’s important to actively cultivate a culture where everyone feels they are heard and they have a safe space to give feedback and ask for what they need. On the leadership side, we find that providing education and opportunities for continued learning to our team members opens the door to an ongoing conversation to spur growth.
Is there anything you see that recruiters, internal or otherwise, do regularly that makes you think, “No, stop doing that!”?
I think at times the human experience and empathy can be removed from the recruiting and onboarding process. It’s often robotic and lacks the personal touch that reminds people that this is still a business…. Of people. While automation and streamlining processes are important, it’s important to create an experience that involves people who truly care about the well-being and future success of that potential employee. Hence our mission here at Jitjatjo to be a technology company that is “human-powered.”
With so much noise and competition out there, what are your top 3 ways to attract and engage the best talent in an industry when they haven’t already reached out to you?
Social Media — We rely heavily on our culture, blog content, and ads that speak to our #workbetter promise. We show people online that we are ahead of the curve, a leader in our industry, and a company with consistent growth.
Referrals — We love referrals. We have evergreen referral rewards programs for our Talent that are very effective. When a great worker refers a friend or family member to join our platform it’s the best kind of compliment.
Our People — We have an amazing wonder woman recruiter who actively seeks out candidates for key roles within our HQ team, and we have a super talented, caring and empathetic Talent Acquisition team who provide the human touch to connect and hire the best and brightest onto our platform.
What are the three most effective strategies you use to retain employees?
Stay connected to your team to ensure they are engaged, productive, feel heard and supported, and know that they are appreciated. An employee who feels heard and seen and has the ability to grow within their role or the company is more likely to stay engaged, productive, and motivated.
Be transparent. Communicate your mission, goals, and expectations clearly and often.
Give and actively solicit feedback. When giving and receiving feedback, stay open, curious, and vulnerable.
Here is the main question of our interview. Can you share five techniques that you use to identify the talent that would be best suited for the job you want to fill? Please share an example for each idea.
1 . Take the time to carefully craft your job description. Be thoughtful, intentional, and clear about the qualities and/or experience that would make a candidate successful in the role. Is a certain level of education really important or can related experience be a better indicator of success? Does the role require a certain amount of experience to hit the ground running or can you commit to spending the time mentoring and coaching someone with potential? Can you take a chance on someone wanting to make a career change or who’s recently joined the job market if they have experience that proves they are motivated, can work hard, and are willing to learn? Is agility a key to success? Attention to detail? Ability to collaborate with others?
2. Keep an open mind to where the candidate may come from. Many startups stick with their inner circle, whereas larger corporations may use recruiters or lean heavily on job boards. Once the job listing is created and word begins to spread, keep your ears open as you never know where the perfect candidate may pop up.
3 . Don’t sugar coat or gloss over what will be challenging about the job or what the day to day work will look like. Be transparent from the get go. Make sure your candidate understands clearly what will be expected of them, what issues or challenges they may face in the role, and what they can expect to do each day. If there is a specific schedule you need them to commit to, if they will be asked to wear multiple hats or pivot when priorities change, if they will need to build processes or workflows from scratch because they don’t exist yet — make sure your candidate fully understands what they can expect in the role up front. It is critical to ensuring you find the right person for the job.
4 . Look and post internally. Think creatively about members of your team and others within the organization that may be a fit. Rewarding great workers with new opportunities within the organization increases loyalty, motivates others on the team, and helps you retain great talent.
5 . Don’t rely on just one method of evaluating your candidates. Is there a skills assessment that could help you better understand their familiarity with the role? Can you set up a conversation with someone internally already in a similar role to help determine fit and give them a better understanding of the day to day? Can you give them a business problem ahead of time and ask them to present to you how they would tackle it? Get creative. .
We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.
Brené Brown — professor, author, researcher, podcaster and (fellow) Longhorn. Her fascinating, thought-provoking research on vulnerability and shame and her insights into how to challenge yourself to grow personally and as a daring leader I’ve found incredibly motivating — and challenging. And I love a good challenge!
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
Please follow us online at www.jitjatjo.com or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-mae-kemp
Thank you so much for these fantastic insights!
About The Interviewer: Finn is the editor of People Managing People, an indie media publication on a mission to help build a better world of work. He’s passionate about growing organizations where people are empowered to continuously improve and feel fulfilled in their role. If not at his desk, you can find him playing sports or enjoying the great outdoors. To learn more about Finn’s work please go to https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/
